Cabrera and Fielder homer, Tigers beat Twins

Detroit Tigers' Prince Fielder is congratulated by Miguel Cabrera, left, after hitting a two-run home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins in Detroit, Tuesday, April 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

The Tigers homered three times in Tuesdays’ game against the Minnesota Twins, and Justin Verlander struck out eight in a 6-1 win, extending the Tigers’ win streak to five games.

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Good recipe for success.

“I think that starts with the type of team you have. That’s kind of the type of team we are. ... I think my theory has always been, if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” manager Jim Leyland said. “I would say it’s timely home runs with good starting pitching. ... We’ve had some big home runs, and there’s just no defense for that. And I think the biggest thing is, for the most part recently, our home runs have come with men on base. ... Those are quick runs. That’s how you get ahead in games, and that’s how you catch up in games.”

Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder and Alex Avila all homered in the win.

It helped, too, that the Tigers (15-10) had their ace on the mound.

“I went seven strong, and our guys did what they do — scored some runs,” Justin Verlander said.

Even if he wasn’t completely ace-like.

Verlander’s catcher, Avila, called it a “grinding” start.

After needing just eight pitches — all strikes — to get through a one-two-three first inning, Verlander got bogged down in the second, throwing 33 pitches.

“I thought the second inning was disastrous for him, because the pitch count got up so much,” Leyland said. “Because if he doesn’t have the second inning, he extends even one more inning into that game.”

He went to a full count twice, and 2-2 three more times in the inning, giving up a run on former Tiger Wilkin Ramirez’s RBI double.

After throwing 75 pitches through four innings, Verlander (3-2) settled down and needed only 39 to get through the next three, exiting after seven innings. He only allowed a runner past first base once in his final five innings.

It was the 15th time in 17 games a Tigers starter has posted a quality start.

“Seven’s really good. On a daily basis. Seven innings out of your starter is really good. I’ll take that all year long. I’ll try to figure out the rest,” Leyland said.

“When they take you into the seventh on a consistent basis, it helps a manager out a lot.”

The blister that cut short Verlander’s last outing was not an issue.

“It bled a little, but it was just kind of superficial, which is better. Last time I was a little worried, because it was under the callus, which is a big difference,” Verlander said. “I was able to kind of manage it, and deal with it, and keep it from getting worse.”

And Verlander velocity — long a matter of discussion and speculation this month — was where it should be, with Verlander touching 96 when needed.

“Well, I think it’s been cold, and I think he knows what he’s doing, and I think he’s got plenty of velocity,” Leyland said.

It helped that the Tigers finally got him some run support, too.

Detroit had only scored an average of 2.33 runs per game in Verlander’s five previous starts, ranking him tied for 104th in Major League Baseball in run support coming in.

“It’s not going to be there every outing. You just have to know that. You just gotta go out there and make your pitches, keep your team in the game, and hopefully they score some runs,” Verlander said. “I think more often than not, this lineup’s going to score some runs. If you keep the opposing team off the board, hold them to one or two, you’re going to have a good chance to win every night with this lineup.”

Cabrera put the Tigers on top with a two-run homer in the first inning, an opposite-field shot. He’s now got 54 career home runs to right field, and 21 more to right-center. It gave him 28 RBI in April, the most for any Tigers hitter in the live-ball era.

Avila hit a solo homer in the third inning, going the opposite way, as well, making the lead 3-1. All three of Avila’s homers this season have been with the bases empty.

Fielder had a two-run shot in the fifth that took seemingly a millisecond (actually 3.61 seconds) to get out to right field, making it 6-1.

Earlier in the fifth inning, Torii Hunter drove in a run with a groundout, the only run of the 10 scored by Detroit so far this series that hasn’t come via the long ball.

Since the start of the Atlanta series on Friday, the Tigers have hit 11 home runs, two each by Cabrera and Fielder.

Drew Smyly, Al Alburquerque and Joaquin Benoit took the Tigers through the final two innings, combining for two strikeouts, giving the Tigers 10 or more in each of the last five games. That’s tied for the American League record with eight other teams, including the Boston Red Sox earlier this month.

As a pitching staff, the Tigers recorded 252 strikeouts this month, the most ever for the franchise in the month of April.

Just how the Tigers were built.

“Well, I don’t want to emphasize that too much, because then everybody starts swinging for home runs. We got some power hitters who can hit home runs at any time, and we got some other guys that can get on base, and that’s why they’re on there for those power guys,” Leyland said. “That’s just what the doctor ordered. Get some of the guys on, and have the big guys clean it up. You hope that works. It’s textbook when it works. Sometimes it doesn’t work. When you’re not playing real well, and not swinging good, it doesn’t work.”

It’s working right now.

Matthew B. Mowery covers the Tigers for Digital First Media. Read his “Out of Left Field” blog at opoutofleftfield.blogspot.com.